Convicted sex offender faces additional charges

Tuesday

Sep 17, 2013 at 12:01 AM

He served time for sexually molesting a girl when she was 14 in 1997. Then he was charged in May with violating Megan's Law sex offender registration requirements and again in July with having molested another girl in Pocono Township.

ANDREW SCOTT

He served time for sexually molesting a girl when she was 14 in 1997. Then he was charged in May with violating Megan's Law sex offender registration requirements and again in July with having molested another girl in Pocono Township.

Now, Justin Corliss, 47, is heading to Monroe County Court on charges of repeatedly molesting a third girl in Chestnuthill Township in 1995, when she was 9 or 10.

After a preliminary hearing Monday, Brodheadsville Magisterial District Judge Colleen Mancuso found sufficient evidence to send these new charges against Corliss to Monroe County Court, where he can go to trial, plead guilty or plead no contest.

Corliss remains in Monroe County Correctional Facility without bail as someone now charged in two child molestation cases after serving state prison time in a third.

Corliss on Monday sat with defense attorney Rob Saurman before Mancuso as three of Corliss' supporters sat behind him. He stared at his accuser, now age 27, who kept her eyes on a downward spot directly in front of her while testifying.

The accuser said Corliss began living with her and her mother and younger brother after her parents separated. She said he lived with them for five years, until 1998 when he began serving four to 10 years in prison for molesting a then-14-year-old female employee of the Bartonsville reptile store he owned a year prior.

She said that, from the time she was 9 or 10 until the time he went to prison, Corliss put his hands down her pants multiple times. She said he did this when she was left alone with him, that he usually cornered her on a couch and that he on one occasion molested her when taking her to New York.

When cross-examined by Saurman, she could not recall certain details, such as specific or approximate dates of any of the alleged incidents or what time of day any occurred. She also could not recall how often she was left alone with Corliss or what his work schedule was at the time.

Assistant District Attorney Michael Rakaczewski objected when Saurman asked her if she liked Corliss when he lived with her family after her parents separated.

Rakaczewski called the question irrelevant. Saurman said it concerns the accuser's bias against Corliss and therefore how credible her accusations are.

Agreeing with Rakaczewski, Mancuso said credibility is an issue at trial, but not during a preliminary hearing when the goal is merely to establish a crime was committed and the defendant likely is the one who committed it. Rakaczewski again objected for the same reason when Saurman asked the accuser if Corliss moved out or was evicted from the house months prior to going to prison.

She said that, after he went away, she was too scared to report what he had done to her. She said she was 16 when she first told anyone what had happened and that it was her mother she told, but she still reported nothing to police out of fear Corliss might come after her.

She said she saw news about Corliss being charged in July with molesting another girl in Pocono Township from fall 2009, when that girl was 9, to June 2010, when she was 11. She said she finally came forward to police after seeing that news.

Rakaczewski raised a third objection when Saurman called state police investigator Eric Temarantz to testify. Rakaczewski said Temarantz's testimony would not negate the evidence on which the case has been sent to county court.

Saurman said it's unfair not to be allowed to question Temarantz to see exactly what his testimony would be, but Mancuso again agreed with Rakaczewski on grounds that the defense will have the chance to cross-examine Temarantz at trial.

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